638 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



usually melt enough for ten or twelve press- 

 ings at a time, and thus do away with lots of 

 fussy work. If two are doing the work it 

 might pay to melt smaller quantities at a 

 time; but as we render wax, only one man is 

 needed to do the work. From our extended 

 correspondence with bee-keepers who use 

 this method of rendering we have found that 

 the majority seem to melt a relatively large 

 amount of comb at a time. However, almost 

 every man has his own ideas concerning the 

 easiest way of working, and this only proves 

 that there is more than one good way of do- 

 ing most things. — H. H. R.] 



THE OLD VS. THE NEW. 



The Fence Separator and the Plain-section 

 System ; why some Good Things are Con- 

 demned Wrongly ; when Rightly Used, 

 the Fence System a Success. 



BY G. A. DEADMAN. 



Those of US who were in attendance at the 

 annual meeting of the Ontario Bee-keepers' 

 Association, recently held in Toronto, could 

 not but be impressed by the good feeling 

 that existed, and the readiness of many 

 present to take part in the discussions. One 

 of the many things that came up was the 

 fence separator in the production of comb 

 honey. 



How puzzling it must be for a beginner to 

 know what plan to adopt, or whose advice 

 to follow! What some of us find to be "the 

 best thing out," others "have no use for," 

 and, may be (too often, I am afraid), con- 

 demn it untried. Many good things are as 

 good as lost to some because, either from 

 not being willing to adapt themselves to the 

 new order of things, or too indifferent about 

 them, or from being (shall I say?) preju- 

 diced, go on in the old way with their own 

 or old devices, in blissful ignorance of what 

 they are missing. 



The fence separator is an illustration of 

 this. Some are ready to condemn it un- 

 tried, or, if tried at all, not as it should be. 

 We see this illustrated in about every issue 

 of a bee journal Sometimes locality is made 

 to account for the difference; and in some 

 instances, with some things, it may be at- 

 tributable to that, but not always. We be- 

 come wedded to some things from long fa- 

 miliarity with them, and are loath to try or 

 have anything different. One might as well 

 try to make a left-handed man believe that, 

 with practice, he can do more with his right 

 hand, as to convince some people that some 

 things are better than others. In some 

 cases— yes, in very many — such a course 

 may be excusable; for from long practice 

 and familiarity we can work moi*e rapidly 

 than we could with many things that maybe 

 really better, and we feel that any change 

 would be at the sacrifice of time if not of 

 money. 



This, however, can not apply to such a 

 thing as a separator, excepting as one may 

 have to throw away the old in the adoption 



of the new. I am convinced, however, that 

 too often objection is made, or some things 

 are condemned, because not made or used 

 as the originator intended them. It would 

 make this article unduly long to give so 

 many examples of this that most of us must 

 have noticed; and I will, therefore, confine 

 my remarks to the fence separators- in the 

 production of comb honey. 



At the Toronto convention one man ob- 

 jected to them because their use (he did not 

 say abuse) would produce what he termed 

 "washboard " comb honey, or that with un- 

 even cappings. It was explained to him 

 that this was due to the slats of the separator 

 being too far apart, which is true, and it 

 was stated that there should be slack J inch. 



I would say that this is still unnecessarily 

 wide. I make mine practically queen-ex- 

 cluding except above the top and below the 

 bottom slat. I make the spaces a trifle more 

 than that of the queen-excluding metal. 

 This extra is because the slats of the separa- 

 tor, being thicker than the metal, would re- 

 quire to be a little wider apart. 



I take it that the Root Co., who originated 

 this separator, never intended that the slats 

 should be spaced other than what is neces- 

 sary to allow a bee to pass freely through 

 them, and so we find a good thing abused, 

 which is unjust to ourselves, the originator, 

 and an injury to the cause. 



Briefly i will tell you why I like the fence 

 separator. In itself, when made of the right 

 material (basswood), and properly made, it 

 is as strong as if not stronger than anything 

 else on the market. 



It will keep its shape; and with the slats 

 15 to the inch it is light and nice to handle. 

 It is much more acceptable to the bees than 

 either the all-metal or the old kind. The 

 bees having fi'ee access from section to sec- 

 tion will do more and better work than with 

 some. 



The bee-space is on the separator, where it 

 should be. A customer has no use for this. 

 The section being the same width all around, 

 it is certainly easier to clean, and less likely 

 to get damaged in handling. Not having so 

 mvich wood as the beeway section it looks 

 better, therefore sells better, and will bring 

 more money. 



Then they cost less to make and less to 

 case, as four will go in the place of five. 



It is my belief that the plain section with 

 the fence separator will eventually super- 

 sede all others. 



Brussels, Out. 



[You are entirely correct in stating that 

 slats to a fence must be pi'operly spaced, and 

 that such spacing must be approximately of 

 the right width to let the bees pass through. 

 When fences were first put out, the spacing 

 was considerably wider than at present, with 

 the result that there was a little washboardy 

 honey reported; but later years have shown 

 the very great importance of so spacing 

 those slats that the space between them will 

 be a small fraction wider than the slots of 

 the perforated zinc, or, in round numbers, j 

 of an inch. When so spaced there will be 



